Teen attacked by shark at a Perth beach thought he would die

A teen surfer has spoken about the moment a shark dragged him under water at a Perth beach – and how his quick thinking saved his life.

A teenager who was attacked by a shark at a Perth beach has spoken about the moment he thought he would die.

Sav Marafioti, 17, was surfing at North Beach when a bronze whaler shark snatched him and dragged him off his board and under the water by his leg rope.

“I felt a nudge and thought it was seaweed, put my leg down and felt it again so put it up, but (the shark) grabbed my leg rope and tried to pull me down,” he told 9 News.

The terrified teen urgently called for help.

“In the moment, you just think – I'm not going to come out of it alive unless I do something,” he said.

The teenager was dragged under by his leg rope. Picture: Facebook

“I thought I was going to die, didn't know what to do, I was stressing, screaming, and everyone was paddling away from me.”

Sav told the network he was just 25m offshore when he was dragged under, but the quick-thinking teen managed to unstrap his leg rope – abandoning his board – and swim to a friend nearby who helped paddle him to shore.

“I can't explain how it feels to have an animal grab at you – I don’t wish it on anyone,” he said.

The teenager now has a message for fellow surfers.

“If you see something, doesn't matter if you just think you saw something, better to report it than someone loses a life,” Sav said.

He was dragged off his board by what was believed to be a bronze whaler shark.

The terrifying encounter comes just two months after Phil Mummert was attacked by a five-metre great white shark at a spot known as “The Farm” near Bunker Bay in Dunsborough.